Timo Koivurova (born 19 March 1967 in Helsinki [ citation needed ]) is a research professor of the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, Finland. He served as the director of the Centre from 2015 to 2020. His doctoral dissertation in 2001 was on environmental impact assessment in the Arctic. He became the director of the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law 2003 and research professor in 2004.
Koivurova has led many international and national research projects [1] and published widely on Arctic legal issues, especially on indigenous rights, law of the sea, environmental law and Arctic governance. [2] He has investigated how to improve Arctic governance via a legally binding treaty. He has also taken stance on how indigenous peoples’ rights should be improved globally and in the Nordic context and suggested that the European Court of Human Rights should amend its jurisprudence in order to give adequate protection to indigenous rights. Koivurova has also taken stance on whether there are dangers for the Arctic to become again a theatre of military operations, arguing that such danger is extremely minor. He has also written extensively on how climate change should be addressed as a human rights problem.[ citation needed ]
Koivurova is a member in a number of Finnish and International Arctic boards and as one of the leading experts on Arctic governance he is keenly involved in the work of the Arctic Council, especially during the Finnish Arctic Council chairmanship (2017-2019). During the chairmanship, Koivurova is a co-chair of the Arctic Council’s Social, Economic and Cultural Expert Group. [3]
He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States, [4] Executive committee member of the European Polar Board [5] and board member of the China Nordic Arctic Research Centre. [6] He is also a member of the Finnish government’s Arctic delegation and the foreign ministry’s group of experts on human rights in Finland’s foreign policy. He is one of organizers of the Rovaniemi Arctic Spirit conference and a member of the advisory committee of the Arctic Circle conference. [7] He has served in the Norwegian Research Council in various programme committees.
The article that he wrote with his colleagues Paula Kankaanpää and Adam Stepien received an honorary mention by the Oxford University Press. [8]
Koivurova acts as the Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford University Press's Yearbook of International Environmental Law [9] and of Brill’s Yearbook of Polar Law. [10]
Koivurova was invited to the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. [11]
The Sámi are the traditionally Sámi-speaking peoples inhabiting the region of Sápmi, which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and of the Kola Peninsula in Russia. The region of Sápmi was formerly known as Lapland, and the Sámi have historically been known in English as Lapps or Laplanders, but these terms are regarded as offensive by the Sámi, who prefer the area's name in their own languages, e.g. Northern Sámi Sápmi. Their traditional languages are the Sámi languages, which are classified as a branch of the Uralic language family.
Rovaniemi is a city and municipality of Finland. It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland's northernmost province, Lapland, and its southern part Peräpohjola. The city centre is situated about 6 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle and is between the hills of Ounasvaara and Korkalovaara, at the confluence of the river Kemijoki and its tributary, the Ounasjoki. It is the second-largest city of Northern Finland after Oulu, and, together with the capital city Helsinki, it is one of Finland's most significant tourist cities in terms of foreign tourism.
The University of Akureyri was founded in 1987 in the town of Akureyri in the northeastern part of Iceland. It is today a school of health sciences, humanities and social science, and a school of business and science. Over 2000 students attended the university in the autumn semester of 2014, around half of them through flexible learning, making the university the largest provider of distance education in the country. The University of Akureyri coordinates with other Icelandic Universities to operate the University Centre of the Westfjords located in Ísafjörður, which operates two master's degrees, one in Coastal and Marine Management and the other in Marine Innovation. Additionally, The University of Akureyri coordinates with other Nordic Universities for the West Nordic Studies and Polar Law Masters programs.
The University of the Arctic (UArctic) is an international cooperative network based in the Circumpolar Arctic region, consisting of universities, colleges, and other organizations with an interest in promoting education and research in the Arctic region.
The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum that addresses issues faced by the Arctic governments and the indigenous people of the Arctic. At present, eight countries exercise sovereignty over the lands within the Arctic Circle, and these constitute the member states of the council: Canada; Denmark; Finland; Iceland; Norway; Russia; Sweden; and the United States. Other countries or national groups can be admitted as observer states, while organizations representing the concerns of indigenous peoples can be admitted as indigenous permanent participants.
The Arctic Centre, University of Lapland is Finland’s national institute for Arctic expertise. It is based at the University of Lapland, the northernmost university in Finland and the EU, and is located in the Arktikum building by the Ounasjoki river in Rovaniemi near the Arctic Circle.
Arctic cooperation and politics are partially coordinated via the Arctic Council, composed of the eight Arctic nations: the United States, Canada, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, and Denmark with Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The dominant governmental power in Arctic policy resides within the executive offices, legislative bodies, and implementing agencies of the eight Arctic nations, and to a lesser extent other nations, such as United Kingdom, Germany, European Union and China. NGOs and academia play a large part in Arctic policy. Also important are intergovernmental bodies such as the United Nations and NATO.
Andrew Drzemczewski is the head of the Legal Affairs and Human Rights Department of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France.
Arctic Policy of Norway is Norway's foreign relations with other Arctic countries, and Norway's government policies on issues occurring within the geographic boundaries of "the Arctic" or related to the Arctic or its people. Since Norway is itself an Arctic nation, the Arctic Policy of Norway includes its domestic policies as regards the Norwegian Arctic region.
The Arctic Policy of China outlines China's approach to foreign relations with Arctic countries as well as its plans to develop infrastructure, extend military capabilities, conduct research, and excavate resources within the Arctic Circle.
Marja Lehto is Ambassador and Senior Expert at the Legal Service of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.
Polar Research and Policy Initiative, commonly known as PRPI or The Polar Connection, is an independent, international foreign policy think tank dedicated primarily to the Arctic, Nordic, Baltic and Antarctic regions, as well as energy and environment issues. PRPI is headquartered in London, United Kingdom and has an international presence across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific, notably through the geographic distribution of its Fellows, Advisors and Affiliates. PRPI operates principally in the international area and is committed to supporting sustainable regional development through multi-stakeholder, multi-sectoral and multi-national dialogue and cooperation.
The Arctic Institute – Center for Circumpolar Security Studies, often referred to as The Arctic Institute or TAI, is an international think tank founded in 2011 and headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Institute's mission is to inform Arctic policy through interdisciplinary, inclusive research that addresses the most critical issues in the circumpolar Arctic. TAI is composed of researchers from around the world. The University of Pennsylvania's Global Go To Think Tank Index has consistently ranked The Arctic Institute among the top one hundred best think tanks in the United States since 2016. Lillian Hussong has served as the interim managing director since August 2021.
Arctic Circle is a Finnish-German crime drama television series that premiered on Finnish streaming service Elisa Viihde at Christmas 2018 and later on Yle. The series stars Iina Kuustonen, Maximilian Brückner, Pihla Viitala, Clemens Schick and Susanna Haavisto.
The Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC) is the official body for inter-governmental co-operation in the Barents Region. It seeks solutions wherever and whenever the countries can achieve more together than by working on their own. Cooperation in the Barents Euro-Arctic Region was launched in 1993 on two levels: intergovernmental Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC) and interregional Barents Regional Council (BRC). The overall objective of Barents cooperation has been sustainable development.
Arctic geopolitics is the area study of geopolitics on the Arctic region. The study of geopolitics deals with the "inalienable relationship between geography and politics", as it investigates the effects of the Earth's geography on politics and international relations. Arctic geopolitics focuses on the inter-state relations in the Arctic, which is the northernmost polar region. It is composed of the Arctic Ocean and its adjacent seas, and is home to around four million people. The states in or bordering the Arctic are commonly referred to as the Arctic Eight, and are the United States, Canada, Russia, Finland, the Kingdom of Denmark (Greenland), Norway, Iceland and Sweden.
The Arctic Economic Council (AEC) is an independent international business membership organisation representing companies that work with and within the Arctic. The AEC advocates sustainable economic development in the region and represents a business perspective on sustainability. The AEC is the only regional business organisation in the Arctic and has members from all eight Arctic states.
The Arctic Coast Guard Forum (ACGF) is an organisation which unites the coast guards of eight Arctic states: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States. The ACGF's main task is "to foster safe, secure, and environmentally responsible maritime activity in the Arctic." Since its establishment in 2015, the ACGF has been enabling the coast guards from each member state to cooperate towards common objectives. The establishment of the ACGF is a response to the increasing levels of activities in the maritime domain in the Arctic, and with that associated need for coast guard services.